🇵🇹 Portugal news, in English, every morning. Free. Subscribe
Sign in Subscribe
guides

Paying tolls and using Via Verde in Portugal

How Portugal's two toll systems work, which roads are now free, and how to pay with Via Verde, EasyToll, TollCard, or Go Toll.

Paying tolls and using Via Verde in Portugal

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

  • You live in Portugal, drive a car on Portuguese plates, and want to set up Via Verde.
  • You are driving your own foreign-plated car in Portugal, as a visitor or before re-plating it.
  • You are hiring a car and want to know how tolls will be billed.

Not for you if: you want speed limits, road rules, or what to carry in the car. Read "Driving in Portugal" instead.

Updated September 2026. Via Verde changed its prices on 10 April 2026 and stopped selling Via Verde Visitors to new customers. The last A25 gantries stopped charging on 1 January 2026, and Alentejo residents can now drive parts of the A2 and A6 free.

Most Portuguese motorways charge tolls, and there are two ways they collect them. Some have booths where you stop and pay. Others have only overhead cameras, with no way to pay on the spot. If you live here, a Via Verde device (from €0.54 a month) pays every toll automatically. If your car has foreign plates, you need EasyToll, TollCard, Go Toll, or a Via Verde plan before you drive. Setting up any of them takes a few minutes online. The tolls themselves are the same whichever option you use.

The two toll systems

Toll booths. The older motorways, such as the A1 (Lisbon to Porto), the A2 (Lisbon to the Algarve), and the A6 (to the Spanish border at Caia), have toll plazas. You take a ticket when you join and pay when you leave. Manual lanes take cash and bank cards. Lanes marked with a green "V" are for Via Verde and other electronic payment only.

Electronic-only tolls. Other motorways have no booths at all. Gantries over the road photograph your number plate and read any device on your windscreen as you drive under them at full speed. A panel beside each gantry shows the price. A sign at the start of each stretch warns you that it is electronic-only.

You can move from one system to the other in the middle of a journey without noticing. That is the most common way newcomers end up owing money.

Which roads are now free

If you are reading an older guide, check this list first. The law abolished tolls on these former SCUT motorways on 1 January 2025:

  • A4 (Transmontana and the Marão tunnel)
  • A13 and A13-1 (Pinhal Interior)
  • A22 (Algarve)
  • A23 (Beira Interior)
  • A24 (Interior Norte)
  • A25 (Beiras Litoral e Alta)
  • A28, only between Esposende and Antas and between Neiva and Darque

The 2026 State Budget then removed the three remaining A25 gantries near Aveiro, so the whole A25 from Aveiro to Vilar Formoso has been free since 1 January 2026.

Roads that still charge electronically include the A41 and A42 around Porto, the rest of the A28, the A29, and the A17. Others are the A33, the A8 and A19 near Leiria, the A21, the A7, the A11, and the A16. The official toll site, PT Tolls (pttolls.com), has a map of every electronic toll point and a calculator for your route.

What tolls cost

Prices depend on the road, the distance, and your vehicle class. They rise each January. On 1 January 2026, Brisa's motorway tolls rose by about 2.3%. Some typical Class 1 prices for 2026:

  • A1 Lisbon to Porto: €25.05
  • A2 Lisbon to the Algarve: €23.80
  • A2 and A6 Marateca to Caia (Spanish border): €15.40
  • 25 de Abril bridge, Lisbon: €2.25
  • Vasco da Gama bridge, Lisbon: €3.40

You pay the two Lisbon bridges only when driving into Lisbon, not on the way out.

Vehicle classes. The system sets your class by the number of axles and the height of the vehicle over the front axle.

  • Class 1: cars and light vans under 1.10 metres high at the front axle.
  • Class 2: two-axle vehicles 1.10 metres or taller, such as many large vans and some pickups.
  • Class 3 and Class 4: vehicles with three, or four or more, axles, such as lorries.
  • Class 5: motorcycles with a Via Verde device.

A trailer or caravan can move you into a higher class. If a toll charges you a higher class than you expected, Via Verde customers can dispute it through Via Verde.

If your car has Portuguese plates: get Via Verde

If you live here and drive on motorways, Via Verde is the simplest option. You stick a small device (identificador) inside your windscreen. It pays every toll, on booth roads and electronic-only roads, and the Lisbon bridges. The same device pays at many car parks and some fuel stations.

How to sign up:

  1. Choose a plan on viaverde.pt, in a Via Verde shop, or at a CTT post office (prepaid device only).
  2. Give your NIF, your car's registration details, and a payment method, usually a Portuguese bank account or card.
  3. Collect the device in the shop, or wait for it by post (€2.99 delivery in Portugal).
  4. Fix it to the windscreen behind the rear-view mirror, as the instructions show.
  5. Use the green "V" lanes at booths, and simply drive under the gantries elsewhere.

Via Verde prices from 10 April 2026 (with an electronic statement; paper statements cost more):

  • Via Verde Autoestrada (tolls only): €0.54 a month, or €6.39 a year.
  • Via Verde Mobilidade (tolls, parking, and other services): €1.49 a month, or €17.49 a year.
  • Via Verde Mobilidade Leve: €1.99, charged only in months you use it.
  • Buying the device outright (tolls only): €37.50.
  • Roaming add-on for motorways in Spain and France: €1.99 in months you use it.
  • CTT prepaid device: €45, with a minimum balance of €25 for Class 1.

Tolls are added on top. The device is linked to one number plate. If you change cars, update the plate in your Via Verde account before you drive the new car. A lost or stolen device costs €15 to replace, so report it at once.

No device? You can still pay afterwards. If your car has Portuguese plates and you use an electronic-only road without a device, your trip shows up about 48 hours later. You then have 15 working days to pay at a CTT post office, a Payshop agent, or with a Multibanco reference from the CTT website. An admin fee of €0.32 per toll point is added, up to €2.56 per payment. You can look up what you owe by plate on the CTT website.

If your car has foreign plates

Paying afterwards at CTT is only for Portuguese plates. With a foreign-registered car, set up one of these options before your first electronic toll, and make sure it lasts the whole trip:

  • EasyToll. You link a Visa, Mastercard, or Maestro card to your plate, online or at one of four EasyToll stations near the Spanish border. It costs €1 to join, plus €0.32 per trip. It lasts 30 days.
  • TollCard. A prepaid card worth €5, €10, €20, or €40. You buy it from CTT (online or in shops) or at motorway service areas and activate it by text message. It costs €1 to join, plus €0.32 per trip. The balance lasts one year from activation.
  • Via Verde Go Toll. An online Via Verde plan for foreign plates, with no device. It costs €0.77 in each month you use it, plus €0.32 per trip. Pay by credit card or direct debit.
  • Via Verde Go Toll and Beyond. A Via Verde device for people without a Portuguese bank account. It costs €1.99 in each month you use it (electronic statement), with no per-trip fee. It works at booth lanes, car parks, and, with Roaming, in Spain and France.
  • Your own device from home. Some French, Spanish, and other European toll devices work in Portugal. Ask your issuer before you travel. PT Tolls publishes the list of accepted issuers.

EasyToll and TollCard do not cover the two Lisbon bridges. At booth motorways, EasyToll and TollCard users must use the electronic lanes, where the camera reads your plate.

Which to choose:

  • A short trip on a few electronic roads: TollCard or Go Toll.
  • A month of driving with a card you are happy to link: EasyToll.
  • Regular visits, or lots of booth motorways and car parks: Go Toll and Beyond.

Do not activate two options for the same plate. An active TollCard overrides an EasyToll registration on the same plate.

If you hire a car

The law requires rental companies to fit their cars with a toll device and a payment system. You usually choose at the desk whether to use it. Tolls are then charged to you, often with a daily service fee.

Before you drive away:

  1. Ask whether the car has an active device and what the daily fee is.
  2. Ask what the company charges if a toll bill reaches it after you return the car.
  3. Get the answer in writing, in the contract.

If you refuse the device and the car has foreign plates, you must set up EasyToll, TollCard, or Go Toll yourself. If it has Portuguese plates, you can pay afterwards at CTT within 15 working days, as above.

If you did not pay a toll

Within the first 15 working days (Portuguese plates). Pay at CTT, Payshop, or by Multibanco reference, as above.

After that, or with foreign plates. Pay the operator directly. PT Tolls links to the payment portals of each operator (Ascendi, Globalvia, Vialivre, and Via Verde). Look up your plate on any of them; they show all your trips wherever you drove.

If you ignore it. Not paying a toll is an offence. The fine is at least five times the toll, never less than €25, and can reach twice that minimum, plus costs. Operators run roadside checks with the police, and rental companies pass fines on to you with their own fee. Do not assume a foreign plate keeps you out of reach.

At a booth, if you enter by a Via Verde lane and leave by a manual lane. With no ticket, you are charged twice the maximum toll from that exit. You can later tell the operator where you joined and ask for a correction.

Alentejo resident exemption on the A2 and A6

This applies to you if you live in, or run a company based in, Alto Alentejo, Alentejo Central, Baixo Alentejo, or Alentejo Litoral.

Since 8 April 2026 you pay no tolls on:

  • the A2 between the A2/A6/A13 junction and Almodôvar
  • the A6 between the A2/A6/A13 junction and Caia

To claim it:

  1. Get an electronic toll device, such as Via Verde, linked to your plate.
  2. Apply to your device provider with proof of your address or company seat.
  3. Renew the exemption when your provider asks. It is not permanent.

Via Verde charges €3 per vehicle to submit or renew an application online, or €3.50 in a shop.

Separately, since February 2026, heavy vehicles in Classes 3 and 4 pay no tolls on the A41 around Porto and on parts of the A8 and A19 near Leiria.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Following an old guide. The A22 in the Algarve and the whole A25 are free. The A41, A42, A28 south of Esposende, and A29 still charge.
  • Buying Via Verde Visitors. It is no longer sold to new customers. Use Go Toll or Go Toll and Beyond instead.
  • Driving the first electronic stretch before setting up payment. Set up EasyToll, TollCard, or Go Toll before you cross the border or leave the airport.
  • Letting EasyToll lapse. It lasts 30 days. Renew it if your trip runs longer.
  • Using an old device on a new car. Update the plate in your Via Verde account first.
  • Leaving a hire-car toll to chance. Agree how tolls are billed before you drive off.

Sources

Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

Read next